P.J. Weeks' first hit of season a winner for Bayport-Blue Point

Bayport-Blue Point's P.J. Weeks couldn't have picked a better time for his first hit of the season.

With the bases loaded and one out, Weeks stepped to the plate telling himself not to fall behind in the count. It took him only one pitch to ensure that didn't happen.

Weeks drove in pinch runner Joe Donnelly with a line-drive single to give the No. 3 Phantoms a 6-5 walk-off victory over No. 2 Comsewogue in nine innings Saturday in Game 2 of the best-of-three Suffolk Class A semifinal series, which is tied at a game apiece.

Weeks is the team's No. 1 pitcher but played first base Saturday because a teammate had to sit out an ejection suspension. He was 0-for-1 with three walks in his previous at-bats in the game.

Coach Joe Moccio told Weeks in the seventh that he had a "gut feeling" that he was going to get the winning hit. Weeks still was thinking of his coach's words at the plate in the ninth.

"There was a big hole up the middle and as soon as I saw it go up the middle, I knew it was over," Weeks said. "It was my first hit of the season, so it was a big moment."

Moccio often used a designated hitter for Weeks during the regular season. But Moccio also told him that if he was needed as a position player "that he's the next guy up."

SEE PHOTOSComsewogue vs. BBP

Moccio said it "wasn't a difficult choice" to insert Weeks in the lineup Saturday.

Bayport-Blue Point (19-5) -- the two-time defending New York State Class A champion -- opened the scoring with a four-run second inning highlighted by T.J. McGuire's two-run single to leftfield.

Comsewogue (18-4) scored in the fourth on a solo home run by Rob Dattoma and added four runs in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. The rally was highlighted by a two-run double by Dan Colasanto, who then scored on a delayed steal and overthrow. Jordan Lisco had an RBI single to drive in Dattoma.

The Phantoms responded in the bottom half of the inning when Jake Liberatore was hit by a pitch, driving in Rob Acierno.

Liberatore, who began the game at shortstop, may be only a sophomore, but he's accustomed to pitching big games for the Phantoms. It's his third year on varsity and Moccio was confident in giving him the ball in the seventh inning in relief of starter Jake Terrill.

Liberatore tossed three shutout innings to record the win, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth.

"I just knew that if we played the way we can in the field that eventually our bats would come around," Liberatore said. "That's the type of team we are. We scratch out wins."

Comsewogue won Game 1 on Thursday, beating Bayport-Blue Point, 3-2, in eight innings. The deciding Game 3 will be at Comsewogue at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.